I NEED HELP!!!! Hello to all! I just joined this forum a few minutes ago... I am going in circles with ford customer care on my 2017 Ford F350 Platinum, and the APIM module for the SYNC 3 system. I bought the truck in October 2017. I have 38,800 miles on it as I use it heavily for my business. It is my office. I took it in a few weeks ago to the local ford dealer because my Bluetooth doesn't work, the voice recognition doesn't work, climate control, massaging seats through the touch screen, climate control, etc... Basically everything in the touch screen doesn't work, or it takes literally minutes to get it to recognize the touches I make on the screen. The Ford dealer said I was outside of my 3 year 36,000 mile warranty on the stereo by a couple thousand miles and that there was no warranty left on the APIM module. I went to Ford Customer Care and they got the dealer to eat all but $407 of the replacement, which I don't feel is sufficient! I researched the APIM unit online and found literally dozens of ford/Lincoln, etc forums where they had their APIM warranty extended to 5 years with NO mileage restrictions! I even found Letters posted on these sites from Ford explaining this extended warranty! It's listed under Ford Customer Satisfaction Program 12M02. I cant imagine that I am the only f350 owner having this issue! I told the Ford rep that I am happy to spearhead the extended warranty program for the new F350's if necessary. Is anybody else having this issue?

 

That APIM warranty is for MFT (Sync 2) and doesn't apply to Sync 3 as they are ENTIRELY different systems (Windows Embedded Automotive vs. QNX). Your failure is unrelated to program 12M02 so referencing it probably won't help you at all. The only similarity is both modules are called APIM. Otherwise they are completely different.

How much was the total replacement cost before the $407? Your best bet is to work with them to get this down and maybe throw in something like a free oil change. You will probably have to pay something on this so instead of trying to pound them down to $0 try (nicely) to get your pay in to be as low as possible. You are out of warranty after all so you are trying to maximize their good will. Good luck!

 

Sorry to hear about your issues but, you are past the warranty and sometimes that`s just how things happen.

Ask yourself this, at 38,800 miles, would you rather pay the reduced cost of the replacement APIM now, which you said was $407.00 or, pay over a $1000.00 for the APIM when your vehicle hits 48,800 miles. Sometimes parts just go bad at the wrong time and it sucks but that`s just how life is so we must suck it up, vent a little, pay for it, and move on.

 

Thanks for the response RPFB. I guess my only thought here is that while I am aware that the SYNC 3 APIM is a completely different module, there are issues with the latest iteration of APIM as well. It's not the $400 to replace it that bothers me, It's the fact that there have clearly been issues in the past with their APIM's and I know that I am not the only one having issues with SYNC 3. I have a friend that is experiencing similar issues in his 2017 F250 but his is a bit more sporadic than mine. I was hoping to reach out to this community and see if there were others experiencing similar issues and if they were having better results in working with Ford Customer Care.

 

Thanks for the response GABAR. It's not the $400 to replace it that bothers me, It's the fact that there have clearly been issues in the past with their APIM's and I know that I am not the only one having issues with SYNC 3. I have a friend that is experiencing similar issues in his 2017 F250 but his is a bit more sporadic than mine. There is literally nothing on my APIM that works properly. Hard to swallow buying an $85,000 truck and within a year and a half having issues like this. I was really just wanting to reach out to this community and see if there were others experiencing similar issues and what results they were having in working with Ford Customer Care.

 

This is why the Ford ESP is worth every dime. There's too many electrical gadgets in these trucks to take on responsibility for paying for their replacements.

Having issues with Sync 2 has zero to do with Sync 3. Different hardware, different software, completely different truck. It sucks that it took a dump right after your warranty, and I would've taken the argument that it broke before the 36k miles to try to get it covered. But they have to cut it off somewhere. I havent really seen any issues with Sync 3 at all. All I ever hear about is iPhone users complaining about CarPlay, which has nothing to do with Sync.

 

My truck is having issues as well with the APIM. My NAV just sits and spins when starting up. I have to reset it multiple times to get it back and sometimes that doesn't even help. I'm at 63000 miles so I'm sure I'll have to buy another one. I'm hoping Ford will send out a SYNC3 update that will take care of this. What sucks is that it usually stops working when I need it the most.

 

^ I have heard lots of issues with the factory NAV. Any reason you don't use Google Maps from your Android or Apple phone? Its just so much more feature rich and helpful to me...

 

Well there are several issues there. Number 1 is that when the APIM is messing up, Apple carplay doesn't work either. Number 2 is that fact that carplay doesn't display on the gauge cluster and other functionality doesn't work on the main display.

 

I like the NAV when it works

 

What version of the SYNC 3 firmware are you running? FWIW, Ford issued the SYNC 3 V3.0 update a couple of months ago.

HTH,
Jim / crewzer

 

I would suggest resetting the ACM and APIM. If you are comfortable and have forscan it's very easy and will clear up a lot of issues normally.

 

SYNC 3 sucks. Just like all past versions of SYNC. Thing always has glitches here and there. Today I experienced problems such as described in this thread for the first time. I was ready to punch the damn thing. After the second time starting my truck after driving it went back to working. I couldn't even do a master reset.

I don't use Android Auto because then you lose all the other functionality of the SYNC system. Whatever manufacturer puts a Google powered infotainment system in first is going to sell a lot of vehicles. I've owned nothing but Fords, but I'd almost buy another brand just to have a Google powered system that actually works, has simple commands, and understands what I'm saying, i.e. Google Assistant. Not this garbage that I have to say exactly the commands it understands (who can remember that) and say ten different things for it to do a simple function.

 

I bit the bullet and paid the $407 to replace APIM... Still having issue now that if I have XM playing and shut down truck, after about 5 minutes, when I start it back up it has changed to some random FM radio station... Already talked to dealer to make them aware. Taking back in next week.

 

Not familiar with Forscan, but will check it out.